Civil Rights Movements Archives

March 8, 1971: Griggs v. Duke Power Co. Court Ruling

In 1966, 14 Black employees filed a complaint with the EEOC claiming that they were discriminated against in hiring and promotion at a power plant in North Carolina. Five years later, the Supreme Court delivered its landmark unanimous ruling prohibiting discriminatory practices by employers.

During the 1953 bus boycott in Baton Rouge, the African American community organized free carpools, enabling protestors to go about their daily business while simultaneously showing they would no longer accept second-class citizenship.

June 18, 1953: Baton Rouge Bus Boycott Begins

Black leaders in Baton Rouge, Louisiana formed the United Defense League (UDL) to protest bus segregation and persuaded thousands of Black residents to boycott buses until an agreed upon compromise was met.

La historia del pueblo de Estados Unidos para jóvenes

Book — Non-fiction. By Howard Zinn, adapted by Rebecca Stefoff with additions by Ed Morales. Translated by Hugo García Manríquez. 2023. 608 pages.
A Spanish translation of the young adult version of the best-selling A People’s History of the United States.

Feb. 27, 1967: NAACP Treasurer Wharlest Jackson Murdered in Natchez

Wharlest Jackson (1930–1967), treasurer of the Natchez, Mississippi branch of the NAACP, was assassinated with a car bomb.

Aug. 24, 1955: Old Fort School Desegregation Struggle

The destruction of a local Black elementary school and the refusal to allow Black children to attend the all-white school led to a years-long battle for desegregation in Old Fort, North Carolina.

Five Films for Teaching the Rebellions of the 1960s

Article. By greg wickenkamp. 2024.
A description of the top five films for teaching about the uprisings of the 1960s, plus a handful of honorable mentions.

July 1964: Founding of the Medical Committee for Human Rights

The Medical Committee for Human Rights (MCHR) provided support to civil rights workers in Mississippi at the height of the Civil Rights Movement and raised awareness of the health care disparities due to racism in the United States.

New York City Civil Rights History Project

Digital history of educational activism in New York City through collections of archival documents, photographs, videos, oral history snippets, and more.

Guns and the Southern Freedom Struggle: What’s Missing When We Teach About Nonviolence

By Charles E. Cobb Jr.

The best way to understand this Mississippi movement episode is...as a story of organizers and the communities they were embedding themselves in during the Freedom Movement of the 1960s. Within this organizing experience, guns in the hands of supporters sometimes existed in tension with the nonviolence usually used to define movement philosophy and practice, but that more often existed in tandem with nonviolence. In other words, something more complex was at play.

May 28, 1963: Woolworth Sit-in in Jackson, Mississippi

Students and faculty from Tougaloo College held a sit-in at the Woolworth’s lunch counter in Jackson, Mississippi.

Feb. 1, 1960: The Greensboro Sit-in Begins

Four African-American North Carolina A&T University students began a sit-in protest at a Woolworth’s whites-only lunch counter.

CORE Members Woolowrth's Sit-in (photo) | Zinn Education Project

Feb. 20, 1960: Patricia Stephens Due Called for “Jail, No Bail”

Patricia Stephens Due refused to pay bail after being arrested for a sit-in in Florida.

Sept. 20, 1962: James Meredith Attempts to Register at University of Mississippi

James Meredith attempted to register at the University of Mississippi.

Feb. 8, 1968: Orangeburg Massacre

Two years before the Kent State murders, 28 students were injured and three were killed in Orangeburg, South Carolina — most shot in the back by the state police while involved in a peaceful protest.

Members of the Black 14 holding a sign during their protest

Oct. 17, 1969: 14 Black Student Athletes Fired at Hint of Protest

Fourteen Black football players at the University of Wyoming were fired when their coach learned they wanted to wear black armbands during a game against Brigham Young University.

The March on Washington: Jobs, Freedom, and the Forgotten History of Civil Rights

Book — Non-fiction. By William P. Jones. 2013. 296 pages.
A vital text on the hidden history and significance of the March on Washington.

Teaching Activity by William P. Jones

Freedom Day in Hattiesburg, Mississippi

Article. By Howard Zinn. From Chapter 6 of You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train.
Zinn describes the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) voting rights campaign called Freedom Day in Hattiesburg, Miss.

April 9, 1947: First Freedom Ride

The first freedom ride, the Journey of Reconciliation, left Washington, D.C. to travel through four states of the upper South.

The Radical King

Book — Non-fiction. By Dr. Martin Luther King. 2016. 320 pages.
Arranged thematically in four parts, The Radical King includes twenty-three selections, curated and introduced by Dr. Cornel West, that illustrate King’s revolutionary vision, underscoring his identification with the poor, his unapologetic opposition to the Vietnam War, and his crusade against global imperialism.

Women & Gender Toolkit: A SNCC Digital Gateway Companion

Book — Non-fiction. By SNCC Digital Gateway. 2024. 22 pages.
Provides concrete ways for people to engage with and learn about SNCC’s work and the role of women within SNCC, explore primary source materials, and connect contemporary issues in their own lives and communities to central themes in SNCC’s history.

March on Washington | Zinn Education Project

Claiming and Teaching the 1963 March on Washington

By Bill Fletcher Jr.

August 28 marks the anniversary of the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Publicly associated with Dr. King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech, this march brought more than 250,000 people to the nation’s capital. The day went down in history as a powerful show of force against Jim Crow segregation. Over time this great event has risen to levels of near mythology. The powerful speech by Dr. King, replayed, in part, for us every January on Martin Luther King Day, has eclipsed all else — so much so that too many people believe that the March on Washington was entirely the work of Dr. King. It is also barely remembered that the March on Washington was for freedom and jobs.

Theme: Civil Rights Movements

March 8, 1971: Griggs v. Duke Power Co. Court Ruling

June 18, 1953: Baton Rouge Bus Boycott Begins

Feb. 27, 1967: NAACP Treasurer Wharlest Jackson Murdered in Natchez

Aug. 24, 1955: Old Fort School Desegregation Struggle

Five Films for Teaching the Rebellions of the 1960s

July 1964: Founding of the Medical Committee for Human Rights

New York City Civil Rights History Project

Guns and the Southern Freedom Struggle: What’s Missing When We Teach About Nonviolence

May 28, 1963: Woolworth Sit-in in Jackson, Mississippi

Feb. 1, 1960: The Greensboro Sit-in Begins

Feb. 20, 1960: Patricia Stephens Due Called for “Jail, No Bail”

Sept. 20, 1962: James Meredith Attempts to Register at University of Mississippi

Feb. 8, 1968: Orangeburg Massacre

Oct. 17, 1969: 14 Black Student Athletes Fired at Hint of Protest

The March on Washington: Jobs, Freedom, and the Forgotten History of Civil Rights

Freedom Day in Hattiesburg, Mississippi

April 9, 1947: First Freedom Ride

The Radical King

Women & Gender Toolkit: A SNCC Digital Gateway Companion

Claiming and Teaching the 1963 March on Washington

April 6, 1968: Tuskegee Student Uprising

Intimate Politics: How I Grew Up Red, Fought for Free Speech, and Became a Feminist Rebel

‘If There Is No Struggle…’: Teaching a People’s History of the Abolition Movement

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